Page 85 of The San Marco Heist

Just don’t be a trap.

Against my better instincts, Scarlett’s warnings, and Rav’s threats, I slipped my hand around hers. I gave it a quick squeeze. “He’s in there. This’ll be over soon.”

“One way or another.” She squeezed back and withdrew her hand. That wasn’t how professionals behaved. Showing her feelings was a weakness. How many stupid rules had her mother ingrained in her head through her life? Rules that isolated her as much as I’d isolated myself.

Rav pounded on the door twice, right hand at his waist, where he carried his concealed gun. He eased the door open, moving as though he were breaching a stronghold. Slow, observant. I could have imagined him with an M4 or something even more lethal in his hands.

“Come in,” came a distorted voice from inside.

Rav pushed the door open wide, and as planned, he stood in the doorway as Scarlett and I, then Jayce and Declan walked in.

The palazzo courtyard was small. Maybe four hundred square feet, covered in a pale stone that looked like aged marble, with a wide stone staircase heading up the right wall to another door. Windows overlooked the courtyard from the second floor, and the terra-cotta roof was visible above. No sign of the drone, but it would be up there.

Exactly as Brie and Will reported, only the clowns were in the courtyard. Red hair stood behind a three-foot high stone well, blue hair stood next to the stairs, and Greenie—the mouthpiece—stood by the single door on this level. Each had a gun at their waist, but they were all holstered.

Blue hair nodded toward the door, and Rav closed it behind himself. The courtyard was a couple of steps lower than the entryway. The water entrance took up part of the floor space, nothing more than a small pool behind the portcullis. Jayce and Declan remained on the high ground, while Rav loomed just behind Scarlett and me.

Greenie didn’t budge from his spot by the door. “Where’s the ring?”

Scarlett said, “Where is my—”

Greenie put up a hand. “You’re not the courier, Malcolm is. I don’t want to hear any of your pretty little words.”

Whether Scarlett was fuming underneath her polished exterior, I couldn’t tell. I’d have to know her far better than I did to have any clue about that.

I said, “The trade was the Chalcis Ring for Emmett Reynolds. We have the ring, so where is Emmett?”

Greenie knocked three times on the door, which opened. Relief flooded my body when I saw a bruised, but not broken or dead, Emmett.

Scarlett’s shuddering breath was so well-masked that I only noticed it because I was next to her. She reached into the front of her waistband, into the hidden compartment where she’d secured the ring, and pulled it out. “One ring. One man.”

The clown with the red hair gripped the well in front of himself and looked at the one with blue hair. Blue hair nodded, and Greenie approached Scarlett, gloved hand out. “We need to verify it’s the real thing.”

She gave him the ring, and Greenie disappeared into the room, shoving Emmett out as he went.

Emmett’s face was various shades of yellow, green, and blue, but both eyes were open, and he only walked with a slight limp. “Sorry, Scar.”

“Well, I only told you not to get arrested. I guess you did that.” She cracked the faintest hint of a smile, but the long blink told me herReynolds women don’t crymantra was flitting through her head. She wrapped her arms loosely around him and whispered, “Thank god you’re okay.”

“Don’t you go getting emotional on me now, sis.”

She let go of him to cock her eyebrow.

Greenie burst out of the room and over to Blue’s side. “He confirmed it’s the real thing. We’ve got it.”

Red-haired clown said in a distorted voice, “We need to get it to the island.”

Emmett held his left hand out to me, keeping the right one close to his body. It must’ve been injured, as well. “Sorry for getting you tangled up in all this.”

“It’s been an adventure.” I looked down at Scarlett, at her strong, impassive features, and felt a swell of desire. I’d never met anyone like her before, and now that we had Emmett, I’d have my chance to explore her further. “And your team is… impressive.”

The door cracked open behind us, and Rav said, “Emmett first.”

Emmett smiled at me in a way that reminded me of his sisters and mother. It was the eyes—they all had the same eyes, despite the different colors. He patted my arm and walked past me, as Rav gave instructions to Declan and Jayce next.

Scarlett and I took slow steps backward, not taking our eyes off the clowns. It felt too easy. Were these gun-toting maniacs really men of their word? Maybe easy wasn’t quite right, considering everything we’d had to go through to get the ring. But if that was all they wanted, we were home free.

The clowns with green hair and red hair toyed with the ring, but blue hair watched us from behind his mask.

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